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Your local news - from downtown New Delhi?

Outsourcing has been the go in business for quite some time now. It's simply cheaper to use manpower in downtown New Delhi or Calcutta than local employees.

The Fairfax group recently announced it would be reducing its pool of journalists. That's on top of the slash and burn which has been underway for some time now. Just reflect on the closure of overseas bureaux by newspaper groups which has occured over the last years. Much less expensive for a newspaper to sign up to a syndicate.

The news that some newspapers will now be oursourcing the writing of news to India is a travesty - on many levels. As AlterNet reports:

"The world may be flat, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has written, but I always liked to think I was standing on a hill. Now comes the news that pasadenanow.com, a local news site, is recruiting reporters in India. The website’s editor points out that he can get two Indian reporters for a mere $20,800 a year -- and no, they won’t be commuting from New Delhi. Since Pasadena’s city council meetings can be observed on the web, the Indian reporters will be able to cover local politics from half the planet away. And if they ever feel a need to see the potholes of Pasadena, there’s always Google Earth."

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